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Any email client that permits this to happen automatically is user hostile. I really hope that Gmail doesn't do this by default. But I use mutt, so I'm not wor

by rlpb 12y ago

Any email client that permits this to happen automatically is user hostile. I really hope that Gmail doesn't do this by default. But I use mutt, so I'm not worried. If I really have to read an HTML-only email, I have mutt configured to pass the HTML to links for rendering, but in a way that links runs confined and without access to the Internet (or anything else) in order to do so[1]. It's been a few years now, and I don't feel I've really missed anything by going back to a text-mode email client. By being able to optionally render HTML as text, I can still read the occasional HTML-only email that I need to (for example: order confirmations). The rest of the time, plain text works just fine. [1] http://www.justgohome.co.uk/blog/2014/02/mailcap-html-apparmor.html http://www.justgohome.co.uk/blog/2014/02/mailcap-html-apparm...

_lce0 12y ago
Gmail isn't doing this by default but Inbox does it -- that's was prevented me from switching. I guess they "new take on mail" by google is not designed for end-users privacy.
- aareet 12y ago
  Google actually uses an image proxy to thwart tracking based on images.[1] http://googlesystem.blogspot.ca/2013/12/google-uses-proxy-to-load-gmail-images.html http://googlesystem.blogspot.ca/2013/12/google-uses-proxy-to...
  - wtbob 12y ago
    Which won't work if it's a unique image (since it won't be in the proxy). And if it is a tracking image, it'll probably be unique.
    - ArchReaper 12y ago
      AFAIK they do this for all images. Not just commonly embedded images.
    - rlpb 12y ago
      If it's a unique image, then presumably Google reads it and pre-caches the image on receipt. So all you'll get from 1 pixel image is confirmation of email delivery, which is something you get with SMTP anyway. Of course if Google wait to cache the image when you actually read it, then this isn't true. But I'm prepared to give them more credit than that.
      - wtbob 12y ago
        > So all you'll get from 1 pixel image is confirmation of email delivery, which is something you get with SMTP anyway. You'll get a read-receipt, which SMTP doesn't offer.
  - petercooper 12y ago
    Except it doesn't thwart tracking the actual open. Just the IP of the end user, etc: http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/12/gmail-open-rates/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/12/gmail-open-rates/
gcr 12y ago
Are you sure Mutt's not doing this? I read my mail with Emacs, but according to https://emailprivacytester.com/ https://emailprivacytester.com/ , when I click on a message, Emacs parses the HTML and inserts images into the buffer. This is default behavior with the `notmuch` mail reader EDIT: Chat with dkg on the #notmuch IRC channel shows there's a patch to fix this that isn't in a release quite yet. My point: Be careful, even if you're using a "dumb" mail client! :)
- wampus 12y ago
  A typical Mutt configuration relies on the entry for text/html in ~/.mailcap. It's quite common to use lynx for rendering, as in the following: text/html; lynx -dump %s; nametemplate=%s.html; copiousoutput Since lynx doesn't load images, that would be safe from this kind of tracking. But another configuration using a different renderer might allow it. Furthermore, it is also possible to prefer the plaintext version of an email if there's a choice. From my ~/.muttrc: alternative_order text/plain text text/html I can't remember ever being put out by not being able to read messages that fetch images from the web. Even if I have to open a URL, I do it in Firefox, where I run RequestPolicy.
  - gcr 12y ago
    Are you sure lynx doesn't fetch any external resources? Some text-mode browsers (I forget if elinks or w3m does this) fetches external CSS by default so they can attempt to render fonts on the the 16-color terminal. :) The "right" way of doing this (calling lynx in a network-restricted cgroup/chroot/container) sounds like a pain.
    - wampus 12y ago
      Lynx doesn't support images, CSS or script. It does support cookies and redirects (by default it prompts for both). Basically, it renders the bare HTML of the page you open, without fetching external resources. If you find it behaves differently, make sure your lynx command isn't actually symlinked to links (or another text browser with graphical/enhanced capabilities).
- 12y ago

by rlpb 12y ago

_lce0 12y ago

Gmail isn't doing this by default but Inbox does it -- that's was prevented me from switching. I guess they "new take on mail" by google is not designed for end-users privacy.

aareet 12y ago
Google actually uses an image proxy to thwart tracking based on images.[1] http://googlesystem.blogspot.ca/2013/12/google-uses-proxy-to-load-gmail-images.html http://googlesystem.blogspot.ca/2013/12/google-uses-proxy-to...
- wtbob 12y ago
  Which won't work if it's a unique image (since it won't be in the proxy). And if it is a tracking image, it'll probably be unique.
  - ArchReaper 12y ago
    AFAIK they do this for all images. Not just commonly embedded images.
  - rlpb 12y ago
    If it's a unique image, then presumably Google reads it and pre-caches the image on receipt. So all you'll get from 1 pixel image is confirmation of email delivery, which is something you get with SMTP anyway. Of course if Google wait to cache the image when you actually read it, then this isn't true. But I'm prepared to give them more credit than that.
    - wtbob 12y ago
      > So all you'll get from 1 pixel image is confirmation of email delivery, which is something you get with SMTP anyway. You'll get a read-receipt, which SMTP doesn't offer.
- petercooper 12y ago
  Except it doesn't thwart tracking the actual open. Just the IP of the end user, etc: http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/12/gmail-open-rates/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/12/gmail-open-rates/

gcr 12y ago

Are you sure Mutt's not doing this? I read my mail with Emacs, but according to https://emailprivacytester.com/ https://emailprivacytester.com/ , when I click on a message, Emacs parses the HTML and inserts images into the buffer. This is default behavior with the `notmuch` mail reader EDIT: Chat with dkg on the #notmuch IRC channel shows there's a patch to fix this that isn't in a release quite yet. My point: Be careful, even if you're using a "dumb" mail client! :)

wampus 12y ago
A typical Mutt configuration relies on the entry for text/html in ~/.mailcap. It's quite common to use lynx for rendering, as in the following: text/html; lynx -dump %s; nametemplate=%s.html; copiousoutput Since lynx doesn't load images, that would be safe from this kind of tracking. But another configuration using a different renderer might allow it. Furthermore, it is also possible to prefer the plaintext version of an email if there's a choice. From my ~/.muttrc: alternative_order text/plain text text/html I can't remember ever being put out by not being able to read messages that fetch images from the web. Even if I have to open a URL, I do it in Firefox, where I run RequestPolicy.
- gcr 12y ago
  Are you sure lynx doesn't fetch any external resources? Some text-mode browsers (I forget if elinks or w3m does this) fetches external CSS by default so they can attempt to render fonts on the the 16-color terminal. :) The "right" way of doing this (calling lynx in a network-restricted cgroup/chroot/container) sounds like a pain.
  - wampus 12y ago
    Lynx doesn't support images, CSS or script. It does support cookies and redirects (by default it prompts for both). Basically, it renders the bare HTML of the page you open, without fetching external resources. If you find it behaves differently, make sure your lynx command isn't actually symlinked to links (or another text browser with graphical/enhanced capabilities).
12y ago